Book Review | The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ROSIE PROJECT, THE FIRST BOOK IN THE DON TILLMAN SERIES. SEE MY NON-SPOILER REVIEW OF THE ROSIE PROJECT HERE.

If you've read The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, you're probably extremely excited that the sequel The Rosie Effect is coming out on December 30 of this year. I could not wait to see the next chapter in Don and Rosie's epic romance, and was thrilled when I got the opportunity to read an advanced Ebook of The Rosie Effect. As you would expect, I read it right away!

The Rosie Effect begins with Don catching readers up on how life with Rosie has been since the pair got married and began a life together in New York City. Don's life is substantially better – his friend group has increased dramatically, he has a great job at Columbia, and, of course, he has Rosie. Yet everything is about to change when Rosie announces that she's pregnant, and Don has to deal with this surprise.

Once Don accepts that fatherhood is just around the corner, he does everything he can to learn about pregnancy and children. Unfortunately, Don's good intentions get him into some sticky situations, and he soon finds that his relationship with Rosie is heading for disaster. Readers follow Don as he tries to cope with the new changes in his life, and ensure that his future with Rosie and Bud (Baby Under Development) will be a good one.

While I still really enjoyed The Rosie Effect and gave it a 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, it was definitely not the fun, romantic comedy that was The Rosie Project. This sequel is full of hard-hitting emotions, and at times it was downright sad. I came to really dislike Rosie for much of the book, but kept on reading because I just had to find out what was going to happen. I did like the ending, and that helped me come to terms with the parts of the story that I found lackluster.

That being said, I really liked the character additions in The Rosie Effect, and the side stories that took place in addition to the overarching plot. Plus, you do not want to miss Gene's major confession in this book (totally unexpected!). I hope Graeme Simsion continues on with Don's story, as I definitely want to see the next phase of Don and Rosie's relationship. I'm too invested for this to be the conclusion!

I definitely recommend The Rosie Effect if you enjoyed The Rosie Project, but keep in mind that this second book has a different tone. The book was still great, but a bit darker than the first. In fact, if you are looking for more depth and emotion, you'll love The Rosie Effect for sure. You can preorder the book on Amazon HERE to ensure you get it as soon as it's released!

I received an eARC of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. I use Amazon Affiliate links so you can find the books I mention easily. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

Book Review | The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

I began hearing good things about The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion a couple months ago, and then it seemed everyone was talking about it. What really propelled me to pick up this pick was the comparison of the main character to the beloved Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory. Any book that has a Sheldon is a book for me, so I picked up The Rosie Project as soon as possible!

The Rosie Project is an adult contemporary novel told in the first person by main character Don Tillman. Don is a middle-aged geneticist who is anything but average. He's programmed his life to know how every minute should be spent, and has emotional issues in the sense that he cannot feel emotions as most people do. Yet Don has started a new project called The Wife Project in order to find himself a life partner who is absolutely perfect for him. While he's waiting for Mrs. Right to come along, Rosie knocks on his office door and Don's life is derailed.

Rosie asks Don to help her find her biological father. Don agrees to put The Wife Project on hold to help Rosie, and along the way the two form a unique relationship. The Rosie Project is a true romantic comedy, and a joy to read. I could not get enough of Don's narrative, and when the pair ended up in New York City I just couldn't handle the feels anymore. The ending was a bit cliché for me, but you'll have to read the book to find out what I mean!

I gave The Rosie Project a 4.5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. There were a few minor issues along the way that did not take much away for my love of this story. Don Tillman is not a Sheldon Cooper replica, but if you enjoy Sheldon I think that love will transfer to Don as well. The Rosie Project is a quick and easy read, and I highly recommend it. You can purchase the book on Amazon HERE, and stay tuned for my review of the sequel book, The Rosie Effect, later this week!

I use Amazon Affiliate links so you can find the books I mention easily. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

Book Review | Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Ever since I read Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (full review HERE), I've been excited to check out more of her work. I luckily received a free ARC of her newest adult novel, Landline, at BookCon earlier this year, and couldn't wait to read it!

Landline is the story of Georgie McCool. She's a television writer, and she and her writing partner Seth are finally getting their big break. The problem? They need to work through the Chistmas holiday, and Georgie is supposed to go with her husband Neal and their two children to Neal's parents' house in Nebraska. The couple argues, and Neal decides to bring the kids to Nebraska and leave Georgie alone in Los Angeles for the holidays.

While Neal is gone, Georgie tries to reach him on his cell phone several times, but never gets to him. Her marriage seems like it's falling apart, and her parents even think Neal's left her for good. Georgie decides to spend the night with her parents, and digs out an out landline phone that she used to call Neal on when they were dating in college. Georgie dials the landline number at Neal's parents' house, and finally reaches him, but something weird happens. The Neal from 15 years ago picks up the phone! The book follows Georgie as she talks to this Neal from the past, and tries to figure out if she can fix her marriage, or if things are truly over.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, but I did have a few issues with it. This story is just over 300 pages, and it took me the first 100 to really get into it. I was actually bored until Chapter 13 came to a close, and then I was hooked. My main issue, though, was that I absolutely hated the character Neal! He was a huge jerk, and had a depressing attitude. I knew that readers were supposed to root for Georgie and Neal to make their marriage work, but because I couldn't stand Neal, part of me wanted them to break up! That said, it would be really interesting to get this story from Neal's point of view. In fact, if Rainbow Rowell wrote that companion novel I'd read it in a second.

Those things aside, Landline was a lovely contemporary read. I love how Rowell includes popular culture references in her books, and it amazes me how at one moment I'm laughing out loud, and at the next I'm nearly crying. The magical realism element in this book was perfectly done as well. Readers will never know for sure whether Georgie was actually talking to the Neal from the past, or if something else was happening. That mystery and intrigue is what makes Landline so special.

I highly recommend Landline if you love the contemporary genre, and think it's a great adult book for readers transitioning out of young adult. It's a very quick read, and one that I hope to pick up again in the future. You can purchase Landline on Amazon HERE, and if you've already read the story, please let me know your thoughts in the comments!

I use Amazon Affiliate links so you can find the books I mention easily. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

Book Review | Best to Laugh by Lorna Landvik

I've really been loving the contemporary genre this summer, so I was excited when I got the opportunity to read an advance copy of Best to Laugh by Lorna Landvik through NetGalley. I absolutely love the bright colors on this cover, and the microphone hinted that this book would feature a stand-up comedian in some way. I was right!

Best to Laugh is the story of Candy, a young, twenty-something from Minneapolis who gets the opportunity to sublet her cousin's apartment in Los Angeles. She decides to take a risk and move to Hollywood, as she recently graduated from college and is unsure where her life is going. When she gets to LA, Candy takes on some interesting temp jobs, but she soon realizes that she wants to go into comedy. Readers follow Candy as she makes that dream become a reality.

Told in the first-person from Candy's point-of-view, Best to Laugh is a beautifully written story that actually feels like a real life memoir at some points. In fact, I was so connected with the characters in this book that I wanted them to be real! I was hooked into this story in the first few pages, and was amazed at how captivating Landvik's writing is. The cast of characters was really what made this story. Sometimes, a book with many characters can become confusing, but that is not the case here. Landvik does an excellent job of developing each of the side characters just enough so that the reader can get to know them, and appreciate the role each character has in Candy's life.

I think part of the reason I was able to connect with this book so much is because I can relate to Candy. While we are different people in different time periods (this story begins in 1978), I'm also a recent college graduate who's just trying to find her place in the world. Best to Laugh is motivating in that it reminds readers that it's okay to not know where you're going – you can discover a great life even when you don't expect it!

Overall, I absolutely loved Best to Laugh. It is a thoroughly enjoyable read, and I cannot stress how superb the writing style is. I rated this a full five stars on Goodreads, and recommend it to anyone who loves contemporary novels or a good coming of age story.

Best to Laugh will be available for purchase on September 15, 2014, and is available for pre-order on Amazon HERE.

This books was provided for my unbiased review. I use Amazon Affiliate links so you can find the books I mention easily. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

Book Review | Honor Bound & Two Alone by Sandra Brown

I recently won a copy of Honor Bound & Two Alone, a bind-up of two Sandra Brown novels, on Goodreads. While romance novels are not my usual cup of tea, I decided to read this book and give it a try. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of either of these stories.

Honor Bound is the first book in the bind up, and revolves around a young woman named Aislinn who is kidnapped by an escaped convict who happens to be an American Indian. Though she is frightened, she is somewhat enamored with Lucas, the convict. Of course, a love story ensues from there.

The other story is Two Alone, which revolves around Rusty and Cooper, the two lone survivors of an airplane crash. They rely on each other to survive in the woods until they can be rescued, and (you guessed it) a romance begins between the two.

These books were both written in the late 1980s, and are definitely products of their time. I think the stories were very cliché, and featured women in helpless roles, with men powering over them at all times. Even without the romance scenes, I really disliked how the women in these novels are portrayed. It also bothered me how these stories both touched on very serious topics, but just glided over them to get to the love scenes. While a happy ending can be nice, they were just extremely cheesy in these books and didn't necessarily wrap up the stories properly.

Suffice it to say that I don't recommend this book unless you really enjoy romance novels. I ended up giving this bind-up a 2 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, because I understand that these books are definitely a product of the late 1980s, and thus may have been received differently during their original release.

Do you read romance novels? Let me know what you think of this genre in the comments!

Book Review | Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

It isn't often that one can read a series out of order, but that's what I did with Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books. Back in high school, my friend lent me her copy of The Da Vinci Code. I read it, and mostly liked it, but was never compelled to pick up Angels and Demons. Flash forward a few years, and my college roommate reads The Lost Symbol during its release. She loves it, I buy it and read it. I loved it, too, but still no Angels and Demons. It wasn't until I spotted a copy of the book at my beloved Strand Bookstore for a mere $0.48 that I got my own copy.

Now that I've explained my history with the Robert Langdon series, I may as well tell you the premise if for some reason you're unaware of it. Langdon is a symbolist and a professor at Harvard. In Angels and Demons, the first book in the series, he is called in to help investigate the murder of a scientist/priest found branded with the symbol of the Illuminati. It turns out the murderer stole a highly explosive material called antimatter that the scientist and his daughter Vittoria created, and intends to blow up Vatican City to eliminate the Catholic Church. What results is a thrilling adventure, in which Langdon and Vittoria rush through Rome to help save the Vatican before all is lost.

The summary I give to you is a simple one, but this book is anything but. It's over 600 pages, and is an intricately-woven adventure. Despite seeing the film adaptation when it was first released, I remembered very little of the story, and thus highly enjoyed discovering all of the mysteries that lie within the pages. I raced through this book quite quickly given its size, and gave it a full five star rating on Goodreads. Dan Brown has received criticism for his work, but I think he's an amazing writer. Angles and Demons is very well done, and I recommend it to anyone who loves thriller novels. This is my favorite in the Robert Langdon series thus far, and I look forward to reading the fourth book in the series, Inferno, in the future.

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Book Review | The First Husband by Laura Dave

I found a copy of The First Husband by Laura Dave at the Strand for $1.00 and couldn't help but pick it up based on the cover alone. It looked like a fun book, so I decided to take it with me on my recent trip to Los Angeles and read it on the plane. I'm very glad I did!

The First Husband begins with our main character Annie being dumped by her long-time boyfriend, Nick. Annie is heartbroken and lost, and finds herself at a local bar late one night. There she meets Griffin, a chef with whom she falls in love instantly. Annie and Griffin hit it off, and begin a relationship, but before Annie can find comfort in her new life, Nick comes back seeking forgiveness. The First Husband follows Annie as she travels across the country, and subsequently across the Atlantic, to decide where, and with whom, she belongs.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a light, adult contemporary that does have some serious scenes, but is otherwise a great beach read. Annie is a very relatable character, and it was easy for me as a reader to connect with her and share her emotions, whatever they may be. Similarly, I liked that readers get to know about Annie's career as a journalist in addition to just her love life. It really provides some depth to her character, and makes the book more believable.

At just under 250 pages, The First Husband is the perfect book for traveling, as it's a quick read and can fit perfectly in your beach bag. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, as I even though I really liked it, I don't think there's anything that special about it, and I don't plan to pick it up again. I definitely recommend The First Husband if you love contemporary novels and are looking for a summer read. You can purchase the book on Amazon HERE.

I use Amazon Affiliate links so you can find the books I mention easily. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information. 

Book Review | Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I've wanted to read a book by Rainbow Rowell for several months now, as so many people praise her writing. Luckily, the Booksplosion Book of the Month for May was Attachments, so I decided to pick it up! I was able to get an eBook from the library, and raced through the book in just one day. I absolutely loved this adult fiction novel, and can't wait to share my thoughts on it with you!

Attachments takes place starting in 1999 when the internet was just taking off and Y2K was a giant threat to companies everywhere. Lincoln works in the IT department of a local newspaper, and part of his job is to oversee the email accounts in the office. If emails are being sent for inappropriate reasons, such as personal emails during the work day, Lincoln is supposed to report it. He soon notices that correspondence between two women, Beth and Jennifer, end up in his security inbox on a regular basis. The two women email each other during the work day all the time, and even though Lincoln is supposed to report them, he decides not to do so. Instead, he finds himself reading their emails, and even develops feelings for one of them.

The story is told in a unique way, with the reader being exposed to Lincoln's life in some chapters, and the emails between Beth and Jennifer in the others. I loved reading the emails, and found that they really helped to propel the story forward, as I wanted to find out what would happen next in the ongoing saga of Beth and Jennifer's lives. I also really enjoyed that we got to find out a lot about Lincoln's life. It was refreshing to have a contemporary story told from the male character's point-of-view. While Attachments does focus on a love story made possible through technology, it deals with several serious topics as well, and that helped me connect with the characters quite easily. Rowell does an amazing job at being both downright poignant while still bringing romance to the forefront.

I highly recommend Attachments, and gave it a full 5 star rating on Goodreads. It is a highly enjoyable and fast-paced novel, and I definitely want to read more of Rowell's books in the future. You can purchase Arrachments on Amazon HERE. Please let me know if you read any of Rowell's other books in the comments!

I use Amazon Affiliate links so you can find the books I mention easily. All opinions are my own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.